


Passing

by YumeArashi



Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: Gen, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-14
Updated: 2013-03-14
Packaged: 2017-12-05 06:02:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/719712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YumeArashi/pseuds/YumeArashi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At the end, an old friend comes to visit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Passing

Lorenzo de Medici knew he was dying, and he hated every minute of it.  It was too soon, his beloved Firenze needed him still, Piero wasn’t ready to take over.  Lorenzo had fought with every ounce of strength he possessed, enduring the various doctors’ remedies and indignities, but he could feel his body shutting down.

“It’s not so bad,” came a quiet voice from beside the bed.

Lorenzo looked over and saw Giovanni Auditore, just as he remembered him last.  Wonderful, now he was having hallucinations.  “Go away,” he croaked.  “I can’t go with you.  I’m not ready.”

“Few men ever are,” Giovanni took a seat on the edge of the bed, looking quietly sorrowful.  Lorenzo felt a twinge of guilt - death had taken so much more from Giovanni than it would from him.

“If I die, Firenze…she needs me.”

“Few men die unneeded, either,” Giovanni smiled gently, brushing a hand over Lorenzo’s feverish brow.  It felt like a breath of cold air, and Lorenzo shivered.  “We can only play the part that is given to us, and then for better or for worse, others must take the stage.  You gave Firenze many years of peace and prosperity, and you will long be remembered and loved for it.”

“It’s not enough.  I could do more.  Another twenty years, another ten, even five.  It isn’t _fair_!” Lorenzo’s voice was almost pleading now, fear showing through at the edges. 

Giovanni shook his head, his dark eyes sympathetic.  “I felt the same way.  But we got the exact same thing that everyone gets, Altezza - a lifetime.  Nothing is fairer than death.”  He took Lorenzo’s hand in both of his, cold and intangible and yet still somehow reassuring.  “This isn’t the end.  When you come with me, you will see Firenze as you always meant her to be, beautiful and happy.  No longer will your work chain you to your desk, armed guards at your side every time you step out your door.  You will be free to see your beloved city, to go anywhere, do anything.  No more banking, no more politics, no more putting your duty above all else, no more ordering assassinations or avoiding the assassins of others.  Just Firenze in all her glory - the art, the music, the beauty that you gave her.”  Giovanni held out his arms.  “Come with me, and see what reward your long years of devotion have yielded.”

Lorenzo had never known Giovanni could speak so beautifully.  The words brought him a sense of peace, a longing to see the wonders that Giovanni described.  He wondered if what he saw before him was not his old friend at all, but rather the Angel of Death, taking on a guise that would be comfortingly familiar to him.

“Will you be there, with me?”

“Always.”

As Lorenzo returned the embrace, he felt the pain slip away, the labors of his failing flesh forgotten.

And thus did il Magnifico Lorenzo de Medici, beloved ruler of Firenze, breathe his last.


End file.
